Zinc production back after pipe fix

Production has resumed at Australia's largest zinc mine at Karumba in Queensland's Gulf country, almost three months after a pipeline failed.

The Minerals and Metals Group (MMG) suspended the production of concentrate after a zinc slurry spilt from a pipeline running between the Century Mine, in the state's north-west, to its port facilities in Karumba.

General manager Karl Spaleck says he is relieved the pipeline has been fixed.

"What we have done is installed a bypass through a 1.2 kilometre section and reconnected that, and then it took us quite some time actually to make sure that the pipeline is safe to operate and that we can recommence production on site," he said.

"We actually tested every piece of the pipe and we have also finished with most of the rehabilitation works along the pipeline."

He says while the cause of the pipeline failure is not known, he is confident another burst will not happen again.

"It's all with the investigators and we have also got some guys that [are] going to help us doing a proper metallurgical analysis of the piece of pipe that caused the spillage," he said.

"We have actually put a new piece of pipeline in that area - the previous piece in there was five years old - we are quite confident that the new piece will withstand any issues coming forward."